Typically, movies about post-societal breakdowns are geared towards grown ups, but there have been quite a few movies coming out, lately, geared to the dystopian-loving young adult crowds. This one never made it to my radar in book form or at the theater until I saw it on Netflix not long ago.
Daisy is an American teenager being sent to live with relatives in England. She’s obviously NOT happy about the situation and makes everyone a little miserable in the process (including the viewer). Eventually, she learns to warm up to the kids of the family, though she hardly gets to know her aunt, who is absent from caring for her children for the most part because she is so involved in the ‘preparedness’ of an oncoming war. Of course, just when she leaves for an emergency conference, bombs strike London and the children are left to endure on their own.
The cinematography is wonderful, and for awhile, their plight seems just as beautiful and made from t hose childhood dreams: Freedom to just be kids without parental oversight.
But when a public official comes knocking at the door offering to take Diasy home with a diplomatic get-out-of-war-free-card, Daisy has to balance a family she’s come to love (and the boy) with going back home to a situation that is not ideal. She chooses the boy (surprised?).
Then, like many of the stories you hear of talked about in the preparedness community, their idyllic life is turned upside down when government official take the children to camps, as they’ve done with the rest of the populace, separating the boys from the girls. Daisy makes a fierce occupation out of keeping her young cousin, Piper, safe. They are sent to live with a family they don’t know, made to work on communal farms and kept like prisoners in a home missing a son who is off to war. Stories of
But the draw to return “home” and return to what they had before the war plays on Daisy constantly, until the time to make a dangerous escape or be forever captive.
The movie, while striving to be realistic for war, is actually not a movie I’d show my teens freely because of R rating (sex and violence), which negates what could be a great movie for those who would learn from Daisy’s transformation and way the kids learned to take care of themselves. For an adult, this movie does delve into the horrors of war from another perspective and gives one a chance to pause and think on these things.
This movie doesn’t get a Mom with a PREP approved status because I just couldn’t quite give myself over to recommending it. It is almost good. But I honestly found the character a little hard to like and believe, which really was the thing that broke the movie for me. While she may have done an excellent job of acting the part, it was a part I couldn’t embrace.
However, I am going to give the book a try to see what I think 🙂
Book | Movie on Amazon | Also available on Netflix, DVD, etc.
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Check out other Chick-Lit books I’ve reviewed.
Mike is a preparedness enthusiast, adventurer, and sports fanatic. He followed in his family’s footsteps and undertook training and education in disaster survival, home preparedness, and personal safety. When he is not out on his next adventure, Mike offers our readers a glimpse into how and what it means to live a prepared life.
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